Associations between manually lifting patients and the occurrence of back pain among nursing personnel in nine observational studies
| Author | Study population and design | Outcome measure | Exposure (% exposed) | Measure of association | Population attributable fraction (%) (% with 95% confidence interval) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arad and Ryan14 | 831 nurses (CS) | LBP in past month (42%) | ≥6 patient lifts per shift (95%) | OR 2.5 (1.8–3.4) | 58 (43–70) |
| Engkvist et al15 | 854 nurses (CR) | Back injury in past 32 months (28%) | ≥1 patient lift per shift (88%) | OR 2.7 (1.6–4.5) | 60 (35–75) |
| Landry et al16 | 344 health professionals (CS) | Current LBP (22%) | Patient lifts: | ||
| 1–5 times per day (43%) | OR 2.0 (1.4–2.8) | 30 (15–44) | |||
| 6–10 times per day (22%) | OR 1.7 (1.1–2.7) | 13 (2–27) | |||
| >10 times per day (16%) | OR 7.5 (5.2–10.8) | 51 (40–61) | |||
| Lo et al17 | 37 nurses (CS) | Current LBP (30%) | Patient lifts, for each additional 100 kg lifted | OR 1.1 (1.0–1.2) | 1 (0–3) |
| Mandel and Lohman18 | 428 nurses (CS) | LBP for at least 2 days in past 12 months (15%) | >2 patient lifts per shift (50%) | OR 1.4 (1.1–1.8) | 16 (2–30) |
| Smedley et al19 | 1616 nurses (CS) | LBP in past 12 months (45%) | Patient lifts: | ||
| 1–4 times per shift (33%) | OR 1.4 (1.1–1.9) | 12 (3–23) | |||
| 5–9 times per shift (17%) | OR 1.8 (1.3–2.5) | 12 (5–20) | |||
| ≥10 times per shift (21%) | OR 1.5 (1.1–2.1) | 10 (2–19) | |||
| Stobbe et al20 | 415 nurses (CS) | Back injury claim in past 40 months (17%) | >5 patient lifts per shift (76%) versus <2 times per shift | HR 2.4 (p<0.05) | 51 |
| Smedley et al21 | 783 nurses (CO) 2-year follow-up | LBP during follow-up (38%) | Patient lifts: | ||
| 1–4 times per shift (33%) | OR 1.3 (0.9–1.7) | 9 (0–19) | |||
| 5–9 times per shift (14%) | OR 1.6 (1.1–2.3) | 8 (1–15) | |||
| ≥10 times per shift (19%) | OR 1.6 (1.1–2.3) | 10 (2–20) | |||
| Venning et al22 | 4306 nurses (CO) 1-year follow-up | LBP injury claim in past 12 months (2.9%) | ≥1 patient lift per day (44%) | OR 2.2 (p<0.05) | 34 |
CO, prospective cohort study; CR, case-referent study; CS, cross-sectional study; LBP, low back pain.